Gwen Aod

GWEN AOD, Seasong Folk group was created in 2000 and its repertoire gives pride of place to Breton authors/composers.

Guitars, accordion, harmonica, violin, clarinet, mix with the voices to bring this marine folk touch. Our songs are all about the sea and the sailors

Once upon a time, during the 1990s, there was a neighbourhood association composed of about sixty households that was named “Les Amis du Letty” and whose main goal was to protect the environment of a corner of the beach called “La Mer Blanche”. Thus, periodically cleaning operations were organised on the dune that separates the White Sea from the Bénodet cove.

Apart from that, the Friends of Letty programmed leisure: an annual summer party that attracted many participants and also from time to time some picnics.

One day, was it for the music festival? Someone came with his guitar. Very quickly we singed tunes known as “Le Forban” or “Quinze marins”.

From there started the idea of weekly meetings in a communal room for rehearsals. The repertoire grew and a few found an attraction in polyphony. For example, we came to sing in the streets of Brest or Paimpol during important festivals in these localities.

But among the Friends of Letty, some liked to sing, others less so, and the funds available for all could not benefit the singers alone.

Then out of a need for autonomy, the association “Gwen Aod” was created in 2000 which in French means “Grève Blanche” and by extension “Mer Blanche” in reference to this corner of the beach in Benode.

And then, over the years, movements of people followed, departures, arrivals, groupings by affinities, splits. In short, so many events that punctuate the life of such a group

Today, still under its original name, Gwen Aod continues it’s way, bringing together in gender parity a little more than twenty participants, old and new, all imbued with the desire to distract their listeners. The repertoire has several dozen marine songs, (constantly evolving), traditional but also contemporary, calling upon largely Breton composers.

Five albums have been produced by the group as at July 2024:  see the recordings section, below.

The Association can be contacted via a Contact Sheet provided on its website.